Canada’s sustainable fashion industry recorded revenue of $120.5 million in 2023. As consumer consciousness rises and Canada emerges as a hub, many Ontario-based startups are leading the way with pioneering solutions that merge style with sustainability, driving positive change through fair trade, eco-friendly materials, and circular business models.
Today we talk about:
- Challenges in the current fashion industry
- How Canadian-based fashion startups are overcoming these issues
- Latest trends in ethical fashion
- Why Ontario would be a great place for your fashion business.
Contents
Challenges With The Current Fashion Industry
The global industry may be worth billions, but it faces significant challenges that are prompting a re-evaluation of its practices. From environmental degradation to labour exploitation, the current system’s flaws are becoming increasingly apparent:
1. Environmental Impact: The production of clothes releases harmful emissions, including greenhouse gases, throughout its lifecycle. A recent study revealed that the fashion industry alone contributes a whopping 10% of the world’s carbon emissions. Even just washing clothes releases 500,000 tons of microfibers into the ocean annually, equivalent to 50 billion plastic bottles.
2. High Energy Consumption: Producing fibres requires a striking amount of energy. For instance, spinning fibres require 54% of the energy used in textile production, while weaving and chemical processing require 23% and 38%, respectively. Additionally, washing, drying, and ironing clothes require supplemental energy.
3. Labor Exploitation: Many workers in the fashion supply chain face poor working conditions, low wages, and lack of labour rights. The Fashion Transparency Index revealed that 99% of major fashion firms continue to underreport the number of workers in their supply chain who are paid a living wage. It also indicated that only 23% of these firms explain the prevalence of modern slavery violations and risk factors in their production chain.
4. Fast Fashion and Waste: As early as 2012, Zara could design, produce, and deliver a new garment in 2 weeks; Forever 21 in 6 weeks; and H&M in 8 weeks. This rapid production cycle results in the fashion industry generating obscene amounts of waste. The rapid turnover of trends and cheap production costs lead to excessive waste, unsustainable resource use, and poor product quality.
5. Supply Chain Transparency: Various functions like dyeing, stitching, cutting, and packaging are often performed at different locations before global distribution. This complexity of the global supply chain hinders the ability to trace materials and ensure ethical practices, leading to issues like human rights violations, environmental damage, and loss of consumer trust.
6. Resource Depletion: It takes about 1,800 gallons of water just to produce a single pair of jeans. The fashion industry’s reliance on finite resources, such as water and fossil fuels, is unsustainable and calls for more sustainable practices and materials.
To put things in perspective, the fashion industry currently contributes more to climate change than the shipping and aeronautical industries combined. If this trend continues, by 2050, the fashion industry could be responsible for a quarter of the world’s carbon budget.
How Canadian Ethical Fashion Startups Are Tackling Industry Challenges
Addressing sustainability issues in the fashion industry is the need of the hour, and Canadian startups are leading the charge by mitigating environmental degradation and promoting ethical practices. They are at the forefront of this effort by embracing novel approaches such as sourcing eco-friendly materials, adopting ethical labour practices, and implementing circular economy principles.
Here’s what Canadian fashion startups are doing to promote ethical fashion:
1. Using sustainable materials
Using sustainable materials helps reduce environmental impact. Materials like certified organic cotton, linen, and fruit leathers require less water, fewer pesticides, and produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional materials.
Many Canadian startups are using eco-friendly, renewable, and biodegradable materials in the production of clothing and accessories. For example: Vancouver based-Tentree, known as one of the most sustainable Canadian clothing brands, uses only organic or recycled materials like TENCEL™ lyocell, or REPREVE® recycled polyester, and they have been able to cut back on wastewater and emissions that are created by typical apparel manufacturing. Ontario-based Franc, also uses knits and dyes that are non-toxic, low-impact, and environmentally-friendly. Their fabrics include TENCEL™ and GOTS certified Organic Cotton fabric blends. Free Label, another popular Canadian ethical fashion brand, offers eco-friendly basics made from natural fibres like organic cotton, linen, and bamboo.
2. Ensuring fair trade
Ensuring fair trade is crucial for protecting workers’ rights, guaranteeing fair wages, and providing safe working conditions throughout the supply chain. This approach helps reduce exploitation and child labour, securing ethical treatment for all involved. Ontario-based startups are at the forefront of this movement, with several brands making significant contributions. One such example is The Good Tee, known for their high-quality fashion basics and advocacy for farmers’ rights. They ensure fair compensation and safe, dignified working conditions for all workers involved in their supply chain.
Ontario-based Thesus is a progressive outdoor footwear brand. Apart from selling over $3 million worth of The Weekend Boot™, Thesus has also been firm on its choice to support family-run producer partners instead of exploiting cheap labour.
Hernest Project supports fair trade by ensuring that their clothing is made with respect for both the people involved in production and the environment. In 2021, they developed a supplier code of conduct to align with their human rights goals. By mapping their supply chain from raw materials to finished goods, they maintain transparency and work to improve sustainability and traceability, ensuring workers earn a living wage, and their rights are respected.
3. Embracing transparency
Once again, Ontario-based brand The Good Tee does an amazing job of being transparent about its supply chain information, providing detailed information like the origins, materials, and production processes involved in making a garment. They even openly share a map of its entire production and supply chain process on its website. This transparency helps build consumer trust and ensures accountability in ethical practices.
4. Promoting slow fashion
Slow Fashion promotes quality over quantity, encouraging consumers to invest in timeless pieces made sustainably that can be worn for longer. Canadian brand BEDI creates handmade bags, knits, and outerwear with a focus on sustainability and longevity. Embracing a slow fashion ethos, BEDI selects lower-impact materials such as upcycled airline seat leather, fishing nets, vegan cactus leather, and sustainably grown cotton. Horses Atelier, another Ontario-based fashion startup also creates timeless, high-quality pieces with a focus on slow fashion principles.
5. Implementing circular economy
Implementing closed-loop systems where waste is minimized, and materials are reused or recycled, reduces the environmental footprint by decreasing the amount of waste sent to landfills, reducing the demand for virgin materials. By reusing and recycling materials, companies can also lower their resource consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Many Canadian brands have built companies around these principles.
For example, Remake World makes handbags and accessories from recycled materials. Ontario-based winter wear brand Wuxly uses materials that are recycled, bio-based, and animal-free, sourcing from Bluesign and Oeko-Tex approved suppliers. Their innovative materials include Sorona®, a corn-based down alternative, and recycled nylon and polyester from discarded fishing nets and plastic bottles.
Toronto-based Preloved, a leader in upcycling since 1995, has successfully diverted over 1 million pieces of clothing from the landfill with their Made-in-Canada fashion brand. LONDRĖ, another Canadian minimalist swimwear brand, is making pieces from recycled plastic bottles. So far, LONDRĖ has recycled 90,000 plastic bottles from the streets and beaches of Taiwan.
6. Local production
Manufacturing products locally is encouraged to reduce the carbon footprint and also support local communities. Canadian brand Free Label creates clothes locally in Vancouver & Toronto to reinforce the local communities & economy. They also create comfortable apparel using natural fibres, such as linen, bamboo, and organic cotton. Ontario-based Franc, from concept to finished basics, sources and make everything possible locally – keeping their carbon footprint low and ensuring the best standard of treatment of the workers at partnering factories.
7. Giving Back
There are many ways that brands can give back or offset their carbon footprint. For example, TenTree plants 10 trees for every item purchased to help regenerate ecosystems and provide planting jobs in communities worldwide. To date, they have planted over 100 million trees.
Certified B Corp Kotn, based in Toronto, collaborates with local NGOs in the Nile Delta to ensure every child in their farming communities receives a quality education, addressing low literacy rates. Each purchase with them not only provides a beautifully crafted garment but also funds school infrastructure, materials, and teachers’ salaries, contributing to the overall development of these communities. The above is an image of their first school in the community of Arab El Gezira, Kafr El-Sheikh.
Thesus chose to give back to the world in a unique way by open-sourcing a decade’s worth of their work and developments, sharing their IP with the public. This included a comprehensive listing of their producers, materials suppliers, design thinking, and ecosystem mapping for their iconic Weekend Boot™, which is made with at least 96% renewable and recycled materials. These boots have been acclaimed for their versatility and sustainability, being recognized as some of the best and most eco-friendly hiking boots on the market.
The Future Trends of the Ethical Fashion Industry
If you’re a new fashion startup, you have the unique opportunity to shape the future of the industry by embracing ethical practices and sustainability. The demand for transparency, fair trade, and eco-friendly materials is rapidly growing, and consumers are becoming more conscious of the impact their purchases have on the world. Here are a few futuristic trends for you to bookmark for your startup:
1. Green Fabrics & Material
With companies realizing their role in climate change, fashion startups are turning to alternatives to traditional fabrics, such as mushroom-based textiles, lab-grown leather, and recycled ocean plastic.
2. Conscious Consumerism
Conscious consumers prioritize sustainable, high-quality fashion over fleeting trends and overconsumption. They embrace mindful practices like renting, secondhand shopping, and capsule wardrobes, seeking timeless pieces that align with ethical and eco-friendly principles.
3. Minimalism & Seasonless Designs
Minimalist and timeless designs, along with “seasonless” collections, are gaining traction as a sustainable approach that promotes longevity over fast fashion trends. These pieces transcend fleeting fads, reducing textile waste and encouraging a more intentional, quality-over-quantity mindset among conscious consumers.
4. Repairs & Upcycling
The repair and upcycling industry is booming as consumers seek sustainable ways to extend the life of their clothing. Services that mend, tailor, or creatively repurpose old garments into new designs offer an eco-friendly alternative to fast fashion, reducing textile waste while celebrating individuality and craftsmanship.
Ontario is a Great Place for Your Ethical Fashion Business
The province’s supportive regulatory environment, including initiatives like the Ontario Green Energy Act and involvement in the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change, demonstrates a commitment to environmental sustainability, aiding startups that prioritize ethical practices. Additionally, Ontario’s diverse and conscious consumer base values environmentally friendly and ethically produced products, creating a strong market demand for sustainable fashion. The region also boasts a robust infrastructure and supply chain ecosystem, with advanced transportation networks, numerous logistics companies, and proximity to major U.S. markets that offer strategic advantages for distribution and expansion.
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